Remaking a game as iconic and beloved as Final Fantasy 7 was quite the undertaking - Square Enix even had to split the mammoth game into three parts to get it done - so it doesn't surprise me to hear Final Fantasy 7 Revelation lead Naoki Hamaguchi pass on bringing back another classic game in the franchise.
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is quickly approaching its conclusion with the finale coming sometime in Spring 2027, so what comes next for Hamaguchi and his team is apparently front of mind for many players.
"I do see a lot of fans and community asking me to take on the helm for a FF6 remake," Hamaguchi says of a hypothetical Final Fantasy 6 retelling, in an interview with Game Informer - with Square Enix PR apparently emphasizing the hypothetical part. "So, I'm seeing a lot of that floating online, but, you know, a Final Fantasy 6 Remake or any other remake, it could be me, or it could be someone else. Personally, I think that it might be in better hands if it went to another creator in Square Enix."
As Game Informer notes, the director also reiterated the point to Bloomberg: "It’s not going to be a remake!"
While the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy has come out pretty quickly relative to other AAA projects, it's still an endeavour that's taken Hamaguchi more than a decade to realize and, thus, I don't begrudge him for wanting to do something totally new. Not to mention, Final Fantasy 6's huge cast and ever-changing overworld would likely make it an even more ambitious venture than FF7.
"Right in this moment, I'm fully focused on completing FF7 Revelation and ensuring we're delivering the FF7 Remake series in a perfect state, so that's where I'm right now," he adds.
Whether his next game is a remake or not, a Final Fantasy or otherwise, Hamaguchi seemed pretty confident he'd still be making a JRPG.
